Game Of Survival
by Goma-Ryu
Summary: UPDATE CH. 11. Last chapter. Game Over.
1. Let the games begin

**A/N:** My very first CSI: Miami fanfic so any tips are more than welcomed and so are flames. Mostly tips.

**Warnings:** I'm really not sure if this counts as slash but Speed and Eric are dating so I guess the only warning is M/M. Any tips on this is more than welcomed because I'm sure everyone agrees with me that there needs to be more S/E stories. Also, I guess Speed will be a little OC in this one but you guys tell me if he is or not.

**Disclaimer:** ME DON'T OWN! Never have and never will.

* * *

The man looked down at his victim as she took her last breath before her body became suddenly still. He dropped the metal bat and let out a laugh as he walked over to a thick book and opened it to the where his pen had saved the page and started writing. He then closed the book with a sigh and turned back to the bloody and beaten body of the women he had played with for a week. She lasted longer than the rest but was sadden when he realized he wasn't able to use his new toy but he just shrugged and walked over to her lifeless body and picked it up, throwing her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. He walked out into the hot Miami sun and opened up the back of his van, throwing her inside before shutting the door and walking to the driver side. He drove the van down the dirt road, away from his hideout, and got onto the main road, heading to the nearest woods. As he drove, he remembered the reason why he was even in Miami and that made him drive faster, wanting to get this body in place so she could be found. Yes, he wanted this woman found because that means he'll be contacted. The one who had him locked away for thirty years. He pulled off to the side of the deserted road and got out, walking to the back of the van and opened the doors. After dragging the woman for five minutes, he found a clearing and threw her down at the base of a tall tree. He looked at his watch and had three minutes to get out before the high school joggers came by for the afternoon jog. He knelt next to the woman, upset that his pet had broken, but happy to finally be able to show the man he was back. He stuck something in the woman's pocket and then took off out of the woods to wait.

* * *

Horatio walked down the hall towards the Trace lab. It was a quiet morning and an even quieter afternoon. No calls on body dumps and he knew Eric was happy to not have to go diving. He told his team that unless they get an urgent call to go ahead and get caught up on some other cases that would be handed to them and not to rush things. To him, his team were the hardest workers Miami Dade Police Department ever had. They were so dedicated to their work and getting things done that he really didn't know how he could ever make it without them. He stopped in front of the lab and watched as Eric and Calleigh were laughing at something and Speed shaking his head and holding his hands over his eyes. He gave a small smile and walked in. "I see you guys are hard at work."

"Oh Horatio. You know how much we love to work," Calleigh said.

"And you know how much these two love to fill my mind with things I'd rather not picture," Speed said. "Especially this one." He pointed an accusing finger at his boyfriend and went back to work.

"Innocent until proven guilty," Eric laughed, holding up his hands.

"From what I was told, you're not so innocent," Calleigh laughed. He left himself right open for the comment and she even got a chuckle out of Horatio. "Anyway, are you boys going to accept my offer or not?"

Horatio raised an eye brow and wondered what she was talking about. It seems that ever since Speed and Eric had come out to them a year ago, his team has been getting closer and closer as time went by. Not that he minded but he also knew their young minds and was afraid to be asking the question. "And what, pry tell, is this offer?"

"I ask them if they wanted to go to the bar after work and I was going to ask you of course, but these two won't give me an answer." Calleigh put her hands on her hips and tapped her foot, waiting for them to answer.

"Speed, if we don't take her up on her offer, you know she'll be bugging the crap out of us until we accept," Eric said. He heard his lover sigh and nodded his answer. "Okay Cal. We'll come." He backed up when she gave a squeal of joy and turned to Horatio, who just smiled and nodded as his answer. He was going to comment on something when Horatio's phone rang. Holding up one finger, he watched as his bosses face went from happy to serious.

"We'll be right there." He hung up and looked at his team. "Looks like we have a case on our hands."

* * *

"Group of high school joggers found her a few minutes ago and called it in," Yelina said, walking Horatio and his team towards a large tree with a young girl lying at the base. "By looking at her, I would say she's been beaten to death."

Horatio nodded and stopped in his tracks and stared down at the woman before them. Yelina was right. She was beaten. He knelt down as Alexx started to examine her while the rest of his team did what they did best. He took in the back eyes, bruised lip and cheek. Her arms were all cut up and burn marks could be seen on her skin.

"Poor baby. Doesn't look a day over twenty," Alexx said, moving the woman's head to the side. "Marks around the neck indicate someone tried to strangle her. Either with their hands or a rope. Blood is still wet and fresh so I'm guess she's been dead for nearly an hour, give or take. Can't move her without more blood coming out of these wounds. Right arm is clearly broken, some broken ribs as well. Severer burns on her upper torso along with multiple bruises all over her body." She then held up the woman's wrist and showed Horatio a long cut along her vain. "She tried to free herself from whoever did this. Poor baby just wanted the pain to be over."

"Can we ID her?" Horatio asked. For some reason, this all seemed familiar to him. He watched as Alexx reached into the woman's pockets and then pulled out two objects from the right pocket. A wallet and tape recorder. He took the objects and stood up. He opened the wallet and took out the drivers license. "Rebecca Wing, age twenty-four and she's a local. Doesn't tell us what she's doing all the way out here when she lives further north of here."

"What about the recorder?" Yelina asked.

He looked down at the recorder, shaking a little. Everything was familiar to him and he was actually afraid to see what was on this tape, but he knew he had to play it. He hit play and listened as a familiar voice spoke out. To him.

_"Good afternoon, Horatio Caine. Or is it Lieutenant Caine? I've been keeping up with the news and when I heard you were Lieutenant of the Miami Dade Crime Lab, I just had to send you a congratulations gift. Isn't she lovely? She lasted longer than the rest and her cries were like music to my ears. Thirty years is a long time to go without hearing the screams and cries of your victims as you slowly sink a blade into their soft skin. Thirty years, Caine. Thirty years in that hell hole of a jail you sent me to. If you thought I would sit there and learn my lesson, then you are sadly mistaken. It only made my obsession stronger. I did always love the way blood flowed from an open wound and the way bone and metal sounded. Some women look beautiful with bruises on their bodies, just like Rebecca here. My favorite pet. She almost won, Horatio. She only had to live for two more hours and then she would've been set free but I guess she just couldn't hold on. She even lasted longer than Mr. Wissman and we know how well he tried to stay in the game._

_If I had known your number, I would've called you personally, but I guess I wanted to show you that I'm back and better than ever. What I've done in the past is nothing compared to what I can do now. So, until we meet again, Lieutenant. Let the games begin."_

Horatio just stared at the recorder while everyone stood there staring at him. He collected himself and knelt down next to Alexx, and has calmly as he could, he turned his face to hers. "Alexx, could you please turn Mrs. Wing over so I can take a look at her back?" He waited for Alexx to turn Rebecca over and he lifted the shirt up, praying it wasn't there, but he was met with what he feared. From the shoulder blades to the hip was the letter "M" branded on her dark skin. He dropped his head and sighed.

"Horatio. Do you know what's going on?" Yelina asked, worried about her brother-in-law. She's never seen him like this before and one look at his team meant neither have they. "Horatio, who was that psycho on the tape?"

"Exactly that," he said, standing up to put his shades on. "A psycho."

* * *

Okay. So how was that for a first timer? Remember, tips and flames are welcomed.


	2. Taken

**A/N:** Okay, this chappy is a little odd. I guess I'm really not trying to follow a timeline, so things about Horatio and Ryan will be a little different. I hope it's still good and people like it.

* * *

The team had arrived back to the labs after collecting what little evidence they could find and take pictures of what they could see before calling it a day. Rebecca was sent to Alexx for further inspection while Speed took some fabric he found on her clothes to see if they might match anything that could help them. Eric had his hands full with footprints, tire prints, and the tape recording. Calleigh was heading towards the morgue to see if she could identify the stab wounds Alexx had found later on at the crime scene. Later, all three were going to be looking at the crime scene photo's to see if they could figure out what really happened to Rebecca Wing. Horatio, on the other hand, was sitting in his office staring out the window. He was replaying the recording over and over in his head and just couldn't get one sentenced out of his mind. 'She lasted longer than the rest.' Did that mean the rest from the past? Or did this mad man kill more before he killed Rebecca? A knock at the door drew him from his thoughts and he told the person to come in.

"Horatio?" Yelina asked, walking in. "Are you okay?"

He just smiled and nodded, even though she couldn't see him. "As well as I can get." He heard her sit down in one of the chairs and knew what was coming.

"Tell me about him."

He sighed and turned around to face her. "About twenty years ago I worked in Orlando for the police department before I came to Miami. The year after I was hired this big case was floating around the department about a mad man going around, kidnapping men and women for a game. I got what I could on these cases and found out the guys name was Ron Macbee and he was only twenty years old. Twenty years old and he was going around kidnapping people for his own games. We traced his killings all over the United States. Ohio, Indiana, Maine, California, you name it, he's been there and his next target was Florida. One day, we got a call from a Mr. Hasselback. He said his wife never returned home from work yesterday and he hasn't seen her that morning either. We sent every officer we could get, but in the end we couldn't find her. Not until Mr. Hasselback came by the department that night with a tape recording. We all sat and listened as Ron told him his wife was now part of his game. His game of survival. He went on to say that she had a week and if she stayed alive for one week, he would release her and would never bother them again. He would send Mr. Hasselback a recording of his wife's torture and beating everyday, and that was a good thing because that meant she was alive. Then, on the third day, he called and said he hasn't gotten a recording. We got a call the next day and found her body in an ally next to a pizza place they go to every Friday for dinner. The medical examiner had said despite all the bruises, burns, and cuts, it was a blow to the back of the head that killed her but that wasn't what got us worried. On her back, from shoulder blades to hip, was the letter "M" branded into her skin. We listened back at the tapes and found one spot where he kept repeating 'Mine' over and over and I swear I heard the sound of skin sizzling."

"Was this similar to the other cases?"

"Yes. It was the same to be exact."

"What about Mr. Wissman?"

Horatio had to stop and think about this one. He was surprised he remembered all this when he really wanted to forget. Like a song you hate so much and yet you know all the lyrics to it better than the songs you do love. "Mr. Wissman was an ex-Marine with a wife and two kids. He went missing when he didn't return from the bar he went to with his buddies and we had suspected Ron was behind it and we were correct when Mrs. Wissman came in, holding a tape recording. The same thing like before. I wanted to save at lest one person from this man so I worked as hard as I could and one night I received a call. It was the sixth day Mr. Wissman disappeared and when I answered the phone he just started talking fast. Told me where he was and what all had happened. I wrote it all down and told him to hold on as long as he could and help was on the way. Our team and the SWAT team raced over to a deserted barn out in a field and caught Ron red handed but it was to late. Mr. Wissman lay at his feet with a bullet to the head. We arrested Ron and later he was on trial. Since he did all these murders in different states, they all decided to combine his sentence into one and was sentenced to prison for thirty years."

Yelina sat and listened, taking notes as she went. Her pen stopped when she thought about what Horatio had said and did some math on the pad she held. She then looked up at Horatio with worry in her eyes. There was something wrong with that story and she had a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. "Horatio, when did you join the Miami Dade Police Department?"

"The same day of Ron's trial. When the judge told the sentenced, I packed up and left. Why?"

"Well, there's something wrong with this picture. If you moved to Miami twenty one years ago when Ron was sentenced, that means his thirty years started that same day, right?"

"Correct."

"Horatio, he's been in jail for twenty one years, not thirty. And if that's the case, this girl we just found only means one thing."

Horatio followed where Yelina was going with this and paled. "It means he got out early."

* * *

It was getting late and most of the morning crew had left for the night while night crew arrived to take over. Eric sat on the stool by the table, looking threw a small magnifying glass at the photo's of the footprints he found. He already got a match on the tire marks and told Speed and Calleigh before going back to work on the footprints. He was having trouble identifying them because the killer had twisted his foot in the mud as he walked so there was no way they could match these prints to anything, but he wasn't giving up. He remembered Horatio's face when they listened to the tape recording and never seen his boss like that. His face lit up and made circles on the two sets of pictures when he heard someone clear their throat.

"Staying late isn't going to help your chances," a voice said. Eric looked up to see Ryan Wolfe. The night shift fingerprint export. He had joined the lab four years ago, around the time he joined as well, and was already acting like he knew everything there was about prints. They got along pretty good until they were told that one of them was going to be promoted higher in that department, meaning the pay was going to be better and more benefits, and they were going to base it on their attendance and work ethic. Since then, Ryan has been doing his best to get all his work done before Eric to show he was best for the position. He also didn't think a "fag" deserved the title but thanks to Speed, Eric was able to ignore the guy and get his work done. It might not be on time like Ryan's but at lest his were neat and with less mistakes. That's what mattered.

"Hey Wolfe. I guess I lost track of time," he said, rubbing his eyes. He looked at his watch and noticed it was almost eleven. He remembered Speed giving him a goodbye hug and kiss that afternoon before leaving for a doctors appointment and Calleigh telling him to go home but that was around six. He stood up and cracked his neck. He heard Ryan say something but he just ignored him as he hung up the lab coat, wanting to get home and into Speeds arms. He walked towards the locker rooms and grabbed his coat before heading out. Car keys in one hand, he made his way across the deserted parking lot towards his car. He just put the key in the lock when someone grabbed him from behind and a cloth was forced over his nose and mouth. The smell of something sweet had reached his nose and his brain registered what was happening. He struggled as hard as he could to get free but the sweet smell was working it's magic and before he knew it, he collapsed to the ground before darkness took over.


	3. Changing of the rules

Speed parked his bike in his usual spot the next morning in the back of the police department. He woke up that morning without Eric in his arms and when he got closer to work, he saw Eric's car still in the same parking space it was yesterday. He sighed and shook his head, knowing his boyfriend had, yet again, spent another night in the lab to get work done. He was half tempted to tell the department to give Ryan the stupid promotion and be done with it because this was killing Eric. They both were making god money and were also going to buy a house next month, so he thought the extra pay was good but was it worth all this. At lest two times a week, maybe three if he didn't drag him out of the lab, Eric would spend the night at the lab while he slept in the bed. He walked off the elevator and was heading to Horatio's office when he saw Ryan walk up to him, looking pissed.

"Hey, where's your boyfriend?" he half asked, half demanded.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, he's not here. I saw him leave last night so where is he?" Ryan crossed his arms over his chest and waited for an answer. He never got one. Instead, what he got was Speed looking over and seeing Horatio and a blond girl walking in their direction and excused himself before walking off. He threw his hands up and just waited until someone came to relieve him of his job so he could go home.

When Speed saw Calleigh and Horatio walking towards them, he hoped and prayed that Horatio had sent him on a case. Excusing himself, he left a now very pissed off Ryan and met his boss and friend half way.

"Morning Speed," Calleigh said, taking a sip of her coffee. She then noticed his worried face and got concerned. "Speed. What's wrong?"

"Um. Have you guys seen Eric by any chance?"

Calleigh and Horatio looked at each other and then at the worried man before them, shaking their heads.

"Was he called to a scene at all this morning?"

"Speed, we haven't seen or heard from Eric today," Horatio said. "When was the last time you saw him?"

"Yesterday afternoon before I left."

"I saw him last night around six when I was leaving," Calleigh said. "He was looking at the footprints and I told him to go home and get some sleep. This would've made it his third all-nighter. Didn't he go home?"

Speed shook his head. "No. His car is still here and Ryan said he saw him last night and demanded to know where he is. I mean, if he's not on a case and no one has seen him, then where can he be?"

Horatio had heard something in Speeds voice he's never heard before. Fear. He walked over to Ryan and could see irritation on his face. "Mr. Wolfe. Speed said that you saw Eric last night, is that correct?"

"Yes sir," Ryan said, being as polite as he could. "I came in around eleven o'clock and told him to go home and get some sleep. I watched him walk towards the lockers and that's the last I've seen of him. Is everything okay?"

"Well, it seems Eric is missing right now so would you mind staying until I get someone to take over?"

Ryan shrugged and smiled. "Sure. I'm always ready to help when needed."

Horatio thanked him and walked back to Calleigh and Speed. "Okay, Mr. Wolfe is going to be here until I get someone to take over. Why don't you two go to the locker rooms and see if you can find anything there while I call someone in." He watched as Speed nodded and walked towards the locker room with Calleigh holding his hand for reassurance. He walked over to the desk and made the call, thanking the person for coming in one there day off. He waited at the desk for Calleigh and Speed to show up and the look on their face told him they didn't find anything.

"He took his jacket so he was there but we got nothing," Speed said, a little disappointed.

"Okay. Let's not give up yet. Let's head out to his car and see if we can find anything there." He gave them a smile and watched them walk to the labs to grab their kits. On their way outside, he told them who they were dealing with and saw Speed's face go two shades paler. They reached the car and started looking around for anything out of the ordinary.

"I think I got something," Speed said, kneeling down by the driver side and picked up Eric's car keys. "He was here last. Unlocked the door and then who knows." He then held up one key. "There's some blood on this key."

"That's good," Horatio said, walking around the car. He stopped at the passenger side and saw something black sitting on the driver seat. He opened the door and reached in to pick up whatever was on the seat. He held up a tape recorder and then looked at his team. Other than that, that was all he found.

Calleigh knelt next to Speed and did what every woman was told to do when walking to her car at night by herself. Look under the car. She saw a white handkerchief and reached under the car to grab it. She looked it over and was about to set it aside when she smelt something. He lifted the handkerchief to her nose and then pulled back. "Chloroform." She bag it and then had Speed take some pictures of the footsteps and tire marks before standing up. "So, we know that Eric walked out here on his own. Got to his car, put the key in to unlock it, and then the attacker chloroformed him."

"Basically, your easy kidnapping," Horatio said. Once they got everything they needed, they headed back into the building to see what they could come up with. Once they were in Horatio's office, he closed the door before pulling out the recorder. He just stared at it before pressing the play button and sat back.

_"Good morning Officer Speedle. I'm sure by now my good friend Lieutenant Caine has told you all about me so let's get down to business. Your boyfriend, Eric Delko, is now playing a part in my game. I must say, Officer Speedle, you sure have an eye for beauty. I've never seen such a wonderful body like Eric's. He's a diver isn't he? Yes, all those years of diving for evidence and bodies must have worked wonders. I'll have to give that a try one day. Now, back to the business at hand. You already know Eric has one week to survive my games but then I got this wonderful idea. Since he's a CSI and you're a CSI, why not make this game a little more interesting. (__Laughing) Instead of one week to survive, Eric must now survive however long it takes you to find him. To show you I'm a good sportsman, I will even change the rules a little to help you out. Everyday, you will receive a tape recording like normal, but now you will also get evidence. What those are you'll have to wait and see. So, the game has started and I wish you the best of luck. Oh, and do tell Lieutenant Caine I said hi and no hard feelings."_

Speed just sat in the chair, staring at the recorder like it was going to jump out and bit him. This was not happening to them. They just got everything the way it should be and now some psycho had to go and ruin it for them. He looked at Horatio with begging eyes. He would not be able to handle this on his own.

"Horatio, what are we going to do?" Calleigh asked in a worried voice.

Horatio just looked at his team and sighed. He didn't like this idea but they had no other choice. "We play his game."


	4. Eric's rules

**A/N:** To make things easier. Whatever you read about Eric and Ron will be on the tapes Speed gets so I don't have to re-write it all again. Anyone confused?

* * *

The first thing Eric noticed when he finally came to, was that he was very groggy and he's never felt this groggy, even with two hours of sleep. He went to wipe the sleep from his eyes when he realized his arms stained to move. He slowly opened his eyes and looked at his feet, hanging inches from a dusty, dirty floor. He lifted his head up and saw his arms were tied together at the wrist and hung on a hook of some sort. As he tried to remember what had happened to him, he took in his surroundings to see if anything might trigger something in his still foggy brain. He was in a rather large room that was completely covered in dust, machine tools and other parts scattered all over the floor, a TV stood in the corner in front of him with a couch sitting on front of it, while a table stood in the middle of the room with at lest four chairs. Lights hung on the ceiling, some on while others were off. In one corner he saw a metal garbage can, a controlled fire on the inside with something metal sticking out of it. In the other corner were piles of chains and more tools. Still, he had no idea where he was or what had happened.

"Ah, I see we're awake," a voice said to his left. He turned his head and saw a man walk out of one of the doorways, an evil smile on his face. The man walked into one of the lights, giving Eric a view of his scared face and jet black hair.

"Who the hell are you and where am I?" he demanded.

The man laughed and walked around Eric, enjoying the view. "May name is Ron McBee and I'll be your host." He stopped behind Eric and played with the back of his shirt. He pulled out a knife and just placed the blade on the back of Eric's shirt collar.

"Host? For what?"

"For my game." With that, Ron sliced Eric's shirt in half, slightly cutting his back in the process, but he wasn't worried. He placed the knife on the ground and removed the rest of the shirt so he could get a good look at his back and chest. He lightly ran his fingers over his back and then to his side before traveling to his chest. "My, my. Such a wonderful body."

"Get the hell off me," Eric spat. He struggled to get his wrist free, or at lest get off the stupid hook, but they held fast. He then stopped when he finally comprehended what Ron had said and thought back to the tape they found on Rebecca. Was this the same guy from the tape? The voice sounded familiar. "What kind of game are you talking about?"

"Oh, I guess Lieutenant Caine didn't tell you about me just yet. Well, it would be rude of me to just kidnap you and not tell you about myself. Well, to answer your question, you are now part of my game. A game of survival but with a little twist. You see, I grew up with this game as a boy for eighteen years and in the end...Well, in the end my father ended up with his intestines ripped out of his body and hung up like Christmas lights. Since then I guess I wanted to continue my fathers game. I had survived and he didn't so now it's time for another contestant."

"Listen, I don't know who the hell you think you are but you better let me go," Eric said, trying sound strong, when deep down he was scared.

"Or what? Your CSI boyfriend will come after me? Please. The evidence I give them won't begin to tell them where you are." He walked over to the table and sat down in the chair before pulling out a cigarette. He lit it up and took a long drag before holding it out, as to offer Eric. "Want a hit?"

"No."

"Smart man. Okay, time to go over the rules of the game. Rule one: You are my pet and I am your master. Simple as that. Whenever I ask you a question or want an answer, you will answer me with 'Master' at the end."

"The hell I will."

Ron got up and backhanded Eric across the face, cutting his cheek with his ring. "Rule two: No talking back. Rule three: When I tell you to do something you do it. You'll find that out tomorrow. Rule four: If anytime during the game I tell you no screaming, I mean no screaming. You scream and you get double of what I'm doing to you. Rule five: Never, I mean NEVER, fight back." He sat back down and took another drag of his cigarette. "Follow those rules and you'll be just fine."

Eric just stared the man down, wishing his hands were free so he could wipe that smile off his face. He tried his restrains once more but they still held tight. He looked back at Ron when he heard something metal being dragged across the floor. Ron held a metal baseball bat in his hands, walking towards him with a grin. He got a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach and knew what that bat was for.

"You know, as a boy I always wanted to play baseball. Of course my bastard of a father wouldn't let me but he gave me this bat anyway. Told me to do what I wanted and I did. You would be surprised how far a cat will fly when hit with one of these. Now, are you ready to start the game?" Without waiting for an answer, Ron took a forceful swing, hitting Eric in the ankle, and smiled at the cry that escaped his mouth. Just what he wanted to hear. He swung again and again, up his legs, his sides, chest, and under arms. He loved listening to the sound of metal hitting flesh but he got bored when Eric couldn't fit back. He dropped the bat and pulled out a small remote and pushed the green button until the hook lowered Eric to where his feet touch the ground. He unhooked Eric's bound wrist from the hook and watched as his body collapsed to the floor, coughing.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Eric asked, trying to get into a sitting position.

"What do you think? It's a game of survival. You must survive everything I throw at you until you're boyfriend and Horatio find you." He waited until Eric got into a sitting position and punched him in the eye, sending his head back a little, and then punched him in the nose and across his mouth. His punches turned into kicks as he kicked Eric in the side, sending him back down to the ground. Over and over the kicks went until Eric had to bring his arms up to block the attacks. "Come on. You're a CSI for crying out loud. Surely this can't hurt you. Then again, maybe being a queer changes a man into a weak, pathetic man."

"Stop," Eric whispered, blood dripping from his nose and lip. He brought his arms up when the kicks got closer to his head. "I said stop." But Ron wasn't listening. The kicks continued to hit his body and he was starting to get pissed. With has much energy he could, he was going to show this man what happens when someone doesn't listen to a CSI. "I. Said. STOP!" He swung his legs around until he kicked Ron's legs our from under him. While Ron was down, he scrambled the best he could to the knife Ron had left on the floor. He was inches from grabbing it when he was suddenly grabbed by the ankle and pulled back.

"What did I tell you, you shit. No fighting back!" Ron turned Eric over his back, straddling his hips, pining his bound wrist above his head with one hand and grabbed his throat with the other. "Never, I mean NEVER, fight back!" He tightened his grip on Eric's throat as he bucked under him and started gasping for air. "If you want to breath, then all you have to do is nod your head and promise not to fight back." He got no nod but a head shake. "Come on Eric. You don't want to die on your first day now do you? Just nod and I'll let you breath."

Eric had no idea what he was going to do. Of course he didn't want to die but he didn't want to obey this bastard. His vision started getting black and gasping for air started turning into choking sounds, so he had no other choice. He closed his eyes, hiding his shame, and nodded. He felt the hand around this throat remove and took in a long breath of air but coughed when the dust from the floor had gotten into his lungs.

"See. That wasn't so bad. Now, since it's early and all this fun at worn me out, I think I'm going to take a small nap. If you don't mind." Ron stood up, grabbing the rope around Eric's wrist, and dragged him back over to the hook. Once his wrists were secured, he pushed the red button and the hook started rising in the air until Eric's feet were, once more, dangling inches from the ground. "If I was you, I would use this time to get some rest yourself. When I wake up, the fun will continue." He turned and walked over to the couch, collapsing with a groan and was sound asleep.


	5. Off the case? I don't think so

**A/N:** The reason why I updated so fast and this chapter is longer than my others because I'm taking my laptop in to get cleaned out and I'm not sure when I'll get it back. So if I don't update in awhile, that means I haven't gotten it back. Oh, and also, what is Eric's lab called? I know Speed is Trace and isn't Calleigh's Bellistics? I'm trying here.

* * *

The next day found Calleigh in the break room, sitting over a hot cup of coffee and reading the paper. She only had about three hours of sleep since all she could do was worry about Eric and Speed. Eric, because he was the one taken and who knows what is happening to him right now. She saw Rebecca's body and if that's what happened to her, she was afraid to know what will happen to Eric. Speed, because he hasn't been his self since he heard the tape. She could tell he was worried sick and she hoped he would be able to keep it together. For both their sakes. Taking a sip of her coffee, she turned the page and spit the coffee out at the headline on the second page. CSI GONE MISSING. In big bold letters, there it was. She couldn't believe the press had found out. No one knew about Eric except Horatio, Speed, Yelina, Frank, maybe some of the lab assistance, and herself. She looked up when Speed walked in, looking even scared than yesterday if that was even possible. She closed the paper and stood up to meet him halfway.

"Speed? What's wrong?"

"I didn't get one."

She looked at him and sat him down. He was shaking and sweating. "Okay. What didn't you get?"

"The recording. He said I would get a recording everyday and I don't have one. That only happens when the person is dead."

"Okay, first off, you need to calm down for a minute. Secondly, I'm sure you'll get one when you get home. It's still early. Just calm down for me." Her hand was in her pocket, gripping her cell incase she needed to call Horatio if Speed didn't start breathing normally. After a few minutes, she was able to get him to calm down and got him a cup of coffee. "I want you to sit here and drink."

"How could I let this happen?" Speed asked, taking a sip, hands still shaking. "How could I let him get taken like that? I should've been there. I should've drove by after my appointment and picked him up to take him to a movie."

"Speed. There was nothing you could've done. This is not your fault and it's not Eric's. It's this bastard that did this and we will find Eric, alive. He's a fighter."

"I know, but after his parents disowned him because of me, I thought he was going to break. I've never seen him so depressed that I was even considering to call you or Horatio and come over to help me incase he did something. After what his parents did to him I vowed to never let anything hurt him and now he's in the hands of some psycho who enjoys abusing and torturing people for the fun of it." He put his head down and started taking calming breaths.

"You can't protect him from everything you know," Calleigh said with a smile. "The only reason why he pulled through and got over his parents was because you were by his side and never gave up on him and you're not giving up on him now. None of us are. We're going to find him but in the meantime, I want you to stay at my house."

Speed lifted his head up and looked at her. "What?"

"To be honest, I don't trust you in the state you're in. You look like you didn't even get any sleep. You can stay in my guest room until this is all over. We'll drive by the apartment everyday to get the recordings." She held up a finger when he opened his mouth. "No arguments mister. You're staying with me and that's final."

He nodded and gave in. He didn't want to be alone in the apartment alone anyway. He looked up when Ryan came walking calmly into the room. Since Eric was missing, they asked Ryan to fill in until they find him and Speed didn't like it one bit. He knew Ryan only cared because this was going on his record for promotion. He saw the man holding a large, tan envelope and wondered what he had. Before he could ask, Ryan placed the envelope on the table.

"I found this in the lab," he said. "It's addressed to you." He watched as Speed opened the envelope and face pale when he pulled out a bloody blue shirt. He was then out the door in two seconds flat, Calleigh right behind him. "You're welcome!" he yelled out.

* * *

"Okay Speed, I need you to calm down," Horatio said, sitting on his desk and staring at a pissed off Speed, when deep down he wanted to punch a wall himself. They just got done listening to the tape and needless to say, if Ron was in the room at that moment, there wouldn't be much of Ron left. He didn't blame Speed for being upset and pissed. They just listened as their friend was being abused like a animal and they could clearly hear the cries of pain and the sound of metal hitting bone. He had Valera test the blood on the shirt for them so all they had to do was wait and he wasn't really sure if that was a good thing for Speed.

"When I get my hands on that bastard..." Speed said, standing up and walking around the room. He wiped away a tear and stopped at the window.

"What do we do?" Calleigh asked, trying to keep anger out of her voice.

"We, do our job and find Eric. Rebecca and Eric's case are connected so we need to look at the photo's and evidence from Rebecca and go from there. Speed, if you don't want to..."

"No. I'm working the case. I don't want no one else but us on this one. I can't afford someone to over look evidence." He felt guilty for saying it, but right now the only people he can trust is Calleigh, Horatio, Yelina, and Frank.

"I understand," Horatio said. "So, lets get to work."

* * *

Eric's lab

Speed walked into the lab, glaring as Ryan was looking at the tire marks. "Eric already look at those," he said, standing on the other side of the table.

"I know but I didn't," Ryan said, not looking up.

"They belong to a Dodge Van."

"That rules out half the cars to look for," Ryan said with sarcasm. "We don't even know what color van." He saw Speed walk over to a drawer, pulled out a set of keys, and unlocked the drawer. "What do you think you're doing?" He saw Speed hold up two photo's of the footprints Eric was looking at. "How did you get the key?"

"It's on Eric's keychain and since I have them..." Speed just shook his head and laid the photo's out, looking at the circles Eric drew. "Keep those pictures out because we have tire marks from yesterday. I'm going to see if they match."

"You keep saying that but there's one problem," Ryan said, not understanding why it was so hard. "We need a color of the van. We can't go around pulling over people in Dodge Vans!"

"Actually, we do have a color," Calleigh said, walking in on Ryan's little speech. She ignored him and looked at Speed with a smile. "Security camera's were rolling that night. Yelina said she would helped so her and Horatio are watching those tapes. When we have the color, maybe even the license plate, we have our van."

"You mean Horatio actually helps out?" Ryan asked, not believe it. "I thought it was the CSI's job."

"Yes, he's helping because we're a team and H is a CSI so he helps." He looked at Calleigh as if to say 'Explain to me why they hired him.' He pushed the two pictures of the footprints in front of Calleigh and looked up. "I think Eric found something that will help us."

Calleigh looked at the photo's, going from the right one to the left one. Looking at the circles from one to the other. She pointed to one and then the other. "You're right. He did find something."

"Okay, so he circled pictures. You can't make out the prints because the person twisted their foot as they walked," Ryan said. He then pointed at the one on the left. "You can see the foot of the shoe here and then you lose everything, but there is a way I can outline and separate the two to make one shoe." He then looked at them with a serious face. "And don't you both have your own jobs to do?"

"Yes but we want to see what Eric found," Speed said. He turned back to Calleigh. "What do you see?"

She smiled and pointed to the one on the right. "This footprint is facing the crime scene, the one on the left is away from the crime scene. Might look the same to an untrained eye but not Eric. The footprint on the right side is deeper in the mud, like someone was holding something heavy and it was weighing them down. The one on the left isn't so deep and barely made a dent in the mud..."

"Indicating that they weren't carrying anything heavy when leaving," Speed finished. "Since both these footprints are twisted, it's clear to say that they were made by the same person." He then pulled out more of the photo's Eric took and showed Calleigh the rest of the footprints next to Rebecca's body. "And this shows us one thing."

"Rebecca's body was dumped." Calleigh looked up when Horatio walked into the lab. "Hey. Did you get the van?"

"Yes we did. Blue Dodge Van. I called Frank and had his men keep a look out. I also have good news. The shirt was Eric's but it wasn't Eric's blood. It was, in fact, dog blood. Now, what did we get off Eric's pictures?"

"Rebecca's body was dumped there," Speed said, feeling a little relief that it wasn't Eric's blood. "That's why we didn't have a lot of evidence. She wasn't killed there." He looked up when Alexx walked into the lab. He remembered her face when they told her about Eric. If you thought Speed was scary when he was pissed, you have to see Alexx. "Alexx?"

"She was pregnant," she said, handing Horatio a file. "She was a month pregnant. I also found this." She held up a vile of some kind of dust. "This was in some of her wounds and hair."

"Looks like something for me to look at," Speed said, taking the vile.

"Thank you Alexx. Calleigh, will you go with Alexx and get a better look at this wounds? I want to know what had caused all that damage and when we find the tools used, we will be able to find out where she was killed."

"What about me?" Ryan asked, not enjoying being ignored.

"Mr. Wolfe, you said you might be able to give us a footprint. It would help if we had what the show size is and what brand of shoe Ron had on. We need all the evidence we can get on Ron."

They all left the lab, leaving Ryan alone to his work, when who would show up but Rick. They all look at each other and knew what was going to happen. Rick stopped in front of them, a little surprised to see them all together at the same time. He held up the morning paper to the second page and just looked at Horatio.

"I am aware of that," Horatio said. "It appears we have a leak."

"Yes it does and it appears that I'm going to have to take you all off this case and give it to someone else," Rick said, trying to hide a smile. "I'm very sorry to hear that Delko has gone missing but our first priority is the cases that come in. I will give this case to another team and I promise they will take extra care in finding Eric. I will even let them give you some information on their findings."

"No."

Rick looked over at Speed and saw anger flash through his eyes and swore they turned red for a minute.

"There is no way in hell you're taking me off this case. Not only was my boyfriend kidnapped, but right now he's probably being tortured, and you want me off the case? Right now, my boyfriend is fighting for his life, and you want me off this case? Not only do we have evidence that tells us who took him, but he also said that I was part of his damn game, and you want me off the case?"

"Wait a minute. You and Eric are in a relationship?"

"Yes."

"Horatio were you aware of this?"

"I was and so was the team," Horatio said.

"You all know that..."

"I don't give a damn about that rule!" Speed yelled. "Not only is my boyfriend fighting for his life, but another life was taken. Two lives! This sick bastard had abused, tortured, and killed a twenty-four year old girl and her unborn child. Her parents will no longer get a phone call from their daughter on Christmas. Her parents won't get to see their grandchild's first birthday. That unborn child will never know how to ride a bike or drive a car. What if she was married? What about the husband? Did he know his wife was with child? Did you know, Rick, that most people who lost someone like this feels better knowing that the people working the case have, or is going through, the same thing they went though? To know what it's like to hear their loved ones on a tape being abused and not being able to do a damn thing about it?! They know that these people will do whatever it takes to get this bastard and put him behind bars were he belongs! So, no I'm not off this case. I'm working this case not only for me, but for all those victims this bastard had killed!" With that, Speed turned and walked off.

Rick just stood there, shocked at Speeds outburst. Horatio and the others didn't even seem fazed by it. "Horatio, I just want to say..."

"Rick, right now we're all feeling the same as Speed," Calleigh said. "I'm not off the case either. I have a friend to find and a killer to put behind bars. Alexx, are you ready?"

"I'm right behind you honey," Alexx said, glaring at Rick before taking Calleigh by the arm and walking down the hall towards the morgue.

"Might I give you some advice, Rick?" Horatio asked.

"What?"

"Leave my team alone." With that, he turned and walked away.


	6. Branded

_"For today, the high's will be ninety-three degree and very humid, making this morning and afternoon a little uncomfortable. The low for tonight will only be in the lower seventies. For the next three days, I'm putting all of Miami under a Heat Advisory until Saturday. I will keep you updated on the weather but now some breaking news. We just received notice from the Miami-Dade Police that CSI, Eric Delko, as been missing for two days now. Police are asking you for help in spotting a Blue Dodge van, Florida license plate FOR 1546. If anyone has any information, please contact the Miami-Dade Police Department."_

Eric stared at the TV that Ron turned on early that morning. Or, at lest he thought it was morning. Wherever he was had no windows but he could feel the cool air of the A/C blowing slightly down on him. Ron had left the moment he turned the TV on and he hasn't seen him since, which was fine with him because that meant his body could rest some more. He was sure his right eye was swollen shut since he could barely open it this morning, and he knew his ankle hurt from where the bat hit it dead on the ankle bone. He would rotate it every so often and it moved fine, but he would wince in pain. The rest of his body just felt like shit. His exposed chest had nasty dark purple bruises, mostly around his ribs, but much to his surprise, none of the ribs felt broken. It seemed Ron knew what he was doing and didn't want his fun to end so fast.

"Good morning pet," Ron said, walking in the front door of the building.

Speaking of the devil. Ron had let in a small amount of sunlight onto the dusty floor before it disappeared behind the closed door. Ron held a bag of something in one hand and keys in the other. He stopped at the TV and laughed when he saw Eric's picture under missing before continuing with whatever he was going to do. He set the bag on the table and reached in to pull out two breakfast sandwiches. He then set some tatter tots next to the sandwiches before looking up at Eric.

"I thought that before our game begins, we have breakfast together. What do you say? I'm sure you're hungry since you didn't eat yesterday." Ron pushed the button to lower the hook before walking over to him. He untied Eric's wrist and before Eric could even let his arms fall to his side, he pulled out Eric's gun and jammed it in his side. "All we're doing is walking to the table. One wrong move and you get a bullet. Understand?" He pulled him over to the table and pushed him down in the chair before tying his wrist to the chairs armrest.

"How the hell am I suppose to eat?" Eric asked, tugging on the rope. He just glared as Ron smiled and started eating his breakfast sandwich while the TV started playing some kind of talk show. He heard his stomach growl, demanding food, but for some reason he had to wait to eat. After Ron finished his breakfast, he opened Eric's sandwich up and held it up to his mouth with a grin. "What?"

"Don't you want to eat?"

"Yeah, but not like this. I can use my hands thank you very much." There was no way in hell he's feeding me like a baby, Eric thought.

"No can do. I let all my other contestants use their hands but they knew better than to fight back and plus, they were weak. You, however, are a lot stronger and smarter than them so, therefore, I can't take any chances. Now, I am advising you to eat because what I have planed for us today is something fun and I don't want you to pass out. Now, open wide." He laughed when Eric opened his mouth and watched him take a bite. "What do you say?"

"Thank you," Eric whispered with hate. His head then jerked to the right when Ron punched him across the face.

"Learn your manners pet. You know the rules."

"No way in hell am I saying..." he didn't finish when Ron had both his hands around his neck once more.

"You listen you little shit. I can kill you right here, right now and then I get the pleasure of handing your body over to your boyfriend and Horatio. Now, what were you saying before?"

"Thank...you...master," came a choked reply.

Ron smiled in approval and released Eric's throat before sitting back down. He continued to feed Eric until the food was gone. Once the food was gone, he stood up to go into the other room, coming back out with longer rope. He untied Eric's wrist, quickly re-tying them in front of him, and pulled him up. Walking him to the door in the back of the room, he opened the door so Eric could see nothing but woods, smoke coming from somewhere nearby, and a jeep. They walked over to the back of the jeep where Ron then tied another piece of long rope around Eric's neck before tying that to the bar in the back of the jeep.

"So, I hear you love to run in the mornings before going into work, and since I'm the kind of guy that hates my routines ruin, I thought a nice run in the woods would be a good way to start our day. Yeah?" He jumped into the driver seat and started the engine and then putting it into drive. He drove slowly at first, looking back to make sure Eric was right behind him and smiled when he was. He was half way into the woods when he picked up speed and then turning around to see the rope around Eric's neck tighten just a little before he caught up with him. "Are you having fun yet?"

Eric just glared at him, not even going to answer. This was absolutely crazy! Here he was, running through the woods with rope tied around his neck. One slip and he would be strangled. He kept his eyes on the jeep and continued to control his breathing. Sweat rolled down his face, into his eyes, and off his nose. He followed the jeep as it turned right and then picked a little more speed. He brought his arms up to cover his face as tree branches threatened to swat him in the face. With his arms up to protect his face, he didn't see a tree root sticking up out of the ground until it was to late. His foot got caught and twisted harshly as his body started falling forward.

"AHH!"

Ron turned around when he heard Eric scream but didn't see no Eric. He stopped the jeep and jumped out to see what had happened, and found him laying on the ground, hands pulling the rope away from his throat, and breathing heavy. "What's the matter? Can't take it anymore?"

"My...ankle." Eric had to force the words out. Pain started shooting up his left leg as he tried to move his ankle. He jumped when he felt hands touch around the bone and a click of the tough.

"What a shame. Can't tell if it's twisted or broken. I guess this ends the run for the day." Ron shook his head as he lifted Eric off the ground and got him in the passenger side before driving away. He didn't have to worry about Eric running away now but that wasn't going to stop their game. It was just put on hold due to injury, but the game will go on. He pulled behind the building before helping Eric limp back inside. Sitting Eric on the couch, he took off his shoes and socks to see the damage. "Can't tell what's wrong but I would advise you to take it easy."

"Shouldn't I be saying that to you?" He felt Ron pull him back to his feet and made sure not to put pressure on his left foot. They walked back over to the hook and just looked at Ron as his wrist were once more tied to the hook. "Where do you think I'm going? I can hardly stand much less run."

"Oh, I need you standing up for this. Once this is over with you can sit down and get ice on that ankle, but I'm sure you want this to be done and over with." He then pulled out a bandana and forced Eric's mouth open before sticking it into his mouth, tying it around the back of his head. "This is for your own good. Remember that." Ron turned around and walked towards the garbage can, the fire still going, and pulled on a pair of gloves. He pulled out the metal stick Eric saw the first day, but it wasn't an ordinary metal stick. This metal stick was welded together to the letter "M". A very large "M". He walked back over to Eric and smiled when he saw the man's eyes widen and struggled to get away as the glowing, red metal came closer. "Don't be scared, my pet. This has only been in the fire for a week. Now, this will only hurt a little. Once this is branded on you, you will belong to me. No one else."

Eric, trying as hard as he could, begging through the gag, but nothing came out but muffled noises. The first thought that came to his mind was Speed. What Speed would do when he saw this ugly brand on his back. He remembered Horatio's face when he saw it on Rebecca's back and never wanted to see his friend give him that same look. A look of shame and disgust. He would never be able to look Speed in the eye if this happened. What if Speed never wanted to touch him again? What if he never wanted to see him again because he didn't fight harder? All these thoughts going though his head he didn't notice Ron had moved behind him until he felt the scorching heat of the brand.

"Mine, mine, mine, mine, mine," was all Ron said as he thrust the brand into Eric's back.

Eric threw his head back, biting down on the gag in his mouth, and screamed with all his might. He felt tears roll down his face from his closed eyes as he struggled to get away from the brand, but it seemed all he was doing was making it worst. He heard the sizzling sound of his skin, smelling burnt flesh, and yet, Ron never let go. Instead, he held had on hand on his should and pushed harder on the brand. He lowed his head until his chin touched his chest, and breathed heavy out his mouth, making some spit drip from his lips. His back was on fire and now he had this ugly brand on his back. He heard whistling and looked up to see Ron already by the garbage can, sticking the brand back into the fire.

"I usually wait until the third day to brand but you needed to be reminded who you belong to," Ron said. He walked into another room and came back out with a wheelbarrow of hay, which he wheeled over to the right side of the room and dumped the hay in the corner. Walking over to the couch, he picked up a blanket and laid it over the hay. When that was done, he helped Eric down, removed his gag, and walked him over to the corner. "Why don't you lay on your stomach so you don't hurt your back. I don't want my hard work to go to waste." He laughed when Eric didn't put up a fight and nodded in approval. He stood up and left to room, only to return with a small bag of ice and some cream. Placing the ice on the swollen ankle he started to rub burn cream on Eric's back, taking extra care not to rub hard.

"Why are you doing this?" Eric whispered, now wanting real answers. "And none of this game shit either."

"You want the truth? Let's just say a friend needed some help and I decided to help him out." Once the cream was on and the ice where it needed to be, Ron stood up and looked around the room. "Tell you what, why don't you get some rest and I'll get our next game ready for this afternoon. Sound good?"

Eric didn't even nod nor shake his head. He had his eye's closed and was asleep in a matter of minutes.

* * *

Late afternoon early evening, Eric finally woke up. His back sore and his ankle throbbing. He lifted his head and looked around the room to see Ron sleeping soundlessly on the couch, TV turned off, and then his eyes went straight to the door. Behind that door was his freedom and if he could get out there he might be able to get help. Very slowly, he pushed up on his hands and knee, making sure not to put any pressure on his left leg or ankle. Once he was sure he could move without that much pain, he slowly started crawling towards the door, thanking Ron for putting him so close. Checking to make sure Ron was still sleeping, he kept going, inch by inch, keeping his breathing calm and even. A couple more crawls and he would be free. He reached up with one hand, inches from the door knob, when suddenly it felt like electricity shot right into his neck, spreading over his body. He let out a loud cry and fell to the floor, grabbing his neck. He felt something metal and cool under his fingertips and looked up when he heard laughing.

"This is what I get for not chaining you up but luckily I had my new toy," Ron said, sitting up on the couch, a remote in one hand. He flipped a small switch and watched as Eric's body convulsed once more before turning it off. "While you were sleeping, I put an electric collar on you just in case you need to learn your place. I thought that if electric collars keep dogs from barking by sending small waves of electricity into them, then maybe it could keep a CSI from getting help." He stood up from the couch and walked over to Eric and knelt down. "You've been a very bad boy, pet. I think you need to be taught a lesson." He grabbed Eric under one arm and started dragging him over to a small door and smiled. "This is called a time out and you'll be in here until I say so." He opened the door to reveal a small closet and dragged Eric's body inside, and closed the door.

"LET ME OUT OF HERE!" Eric yelled, banging on the door. He wasn't Closterphobic or anything but this was a little to small of a room for his liking. He banged on the door and yelled with all his might until he heard a familiar ringing sound. He stopped what he was doing and pressed his ear up against the door to listen.

"I don't give a damn what they got, you need to make sure they don't find us...Yes, you can do that...Alright. You just keep an eye on them and if they get closer give me a call...Bye."

Since he couldn't see what was going on, Eric could only assume Ron had sat down because the TV was then turned on. He started yelling and pounding on the door once more, but Ron turned the TV up so loud that he knew his voice wouldn't be heard over the sports game he found so he gave up. Being careful, he leaned back against the wall, brought his knee's up to his chest, and laid his head on his arms. Not knowing what tomorrow would bring, he decided to get some sleep while he still could, even though he head no idea how long he was going to be in there.


	7. Who said evidence can't grow legs?

Speed stood behind the two way mirror as a young man sat in the seat, looking around in confusion. He was in his lab, listening to the recording of his boyfriends torture and looking at Eric's shoes that were sent with the tape, when Calleigh ran in, out of breath, and said Frank had pulled over the van they needed. He took the tape with him and locked the shoes up, not trusting anyone, and followed Calliegh. He watched as Horatio and Frank walked into the interrogating room so they decided to get front row seats to the show.

"Okay, mind telling me who you are and what you were doing leaving Miami?" Frank asked.

"Well, if you had looked at my drivers license, you would see my name is Johnny Freeman and I'm leaving Miami because I'm on my way home, which I last heard wasn't a crime."

"No, that's not a crime but accomplace to kidnapping and murder is," Horatio said.

"Kidnapping? Murder? Listen man, I have no idea what you're talking about," Johnny said, standing up.

"Sit down. You were pulled over because the van is wanted in the kidnapping of Officer Eric Delko," Frank said.

"Yeah, I heard that on the radio. I'm sorry about your guy but I didn't do anything. I swear. That isn't even my van."

"Oh really? Then who does it belong to?"

Johnny pulled out his wallet and grabbed two hundred dollars and laid them on the table. "I was at the gas station a couple of days ago when this man walks up to me and askes if I would sell my Toyota for his van. I'm not sure why and I was going to say no but he handed me two hundred. I thought a van would be nice and we could take our kids on vacation and let them bring anything they want with a bigger vehical so I agreed. It was a harmless trade."

"Was there anyone with him?" Horatio asked, looking at the mirror, knowing two of his CSI's were waiting for an answer.

"If there was, I didn't see anyone. Although, before he gave me the keys, he asked me to open the trunk for him because there was something he needed from the back of his van. I opened the trunk and turned around to see him holding a rug over his shoulder, looked heavy too because he was struggling a little to keep it from falling off his shoulder. He threw it into the trunk and I heard a thud of something and he said it was nothing, just a little of this and that he needed and bid me farewell. That was the last I saw of him. I swear."

"Okay, we are going to be taking the van and this money for evidence," Horatio said, picking up the money with his gloved hand. "Before we let you go, I need your car's plates."

Speed walked out of the room, a little disappointed they missed the guy but at lest they had the van. He walked back to his lab and pulled out the tape. "Hold on Eric," he said to himself, only he didn't know someone was standing behind him.

"He's strong," Calleigh said. "He'll survive this bastards game."

"If he does, I don't think he'll be the same Eric we once knew." He hit play and let Calleigh listen as Ron was saying "mine" over and over. She felt sick to her stomach, remembering the story Horaio told them and gave Speed a hug.

"When we get Eric back, yes he might not be the same, but that doesn't mean we have to let him do it alone. We're going to help you both through this." She was going to add more when Valera walked up to them, a little worried and almost in tears. "Valera, what's wrong?"

"Um...Have you guys been in the DNA lab looking at the blood samples you gave me from Eric's shirt and Rebecca's case?"

"The dog blood from Eric?" Speed asked. When he got a nod he shook his head. "No. We just came back from the interrogation room. Why?"

"Well...I can't find it."

Calleigh looked at her like she grew two heads. "Can't find it as in..."

"As in it's missing. I've looked everywhere too and I can't find it. It looked like some of my bags I had were moved around a little too." Not only did she lose the evidence in Rebecca's case but also Eric's as well and she didn't want to be on the other end of Speeds wrath after hearing him going off on Rick.

"Okay, don't panic just yet," Calleigh said, trying to remain calm. "Why don't I come with you and look some more, just to have someone else looking." She took Valera by the hand and walked back to the DNA lab, praying this wasn't happening. If it was missing, who would want dog blood and Rebecca's blood? She walked into the lab and went straight to work, looking through evidence bags, reading everything carefully, and asking Valera question on viles as she looked as well. "Where did you last have it?"

"I put the paper work in the files over there and the viles over here for you or Speed to pick them up."

"Was there anyone in the lab with you?"

"No. I stepped out to use the bathroom and when I came back, they were gone. They were sitting here yesterday before I left and told Jenny not to touch these because this belonged to you guys."

Calleigh took a deep breath and looked around the lab. It wasn't a mess, but she could tell Valera had turned this place upside down. She was about to walk out when her cellphone went off. Before she could even answer the person on the other line started talking. "Speed, slow down. Are you sure...Did you look...Okay. Okay. Calm down, I'm on my way." She hung up and looekd at Valera. "I think you better come with me."

"What? What's going on?"

As they walked out of the lab, they passed Horatio and Frank with a glance and continued to Trace. "Well, Speed went to make sure all the pictures we have were together and they're gone." She opened the door to the Trace lab and saw Speed pacing back and fourth like a frighten child. "Speed."

"They're not there. I checked Eric's lab and asked Ryan but he said he hasn't touched them today. I locked them up and now they're gone. The shoes are still here though." He sat down and put the recorder on the tape, staring at it. It seems everything they had on Eric and Rebecca had grown legs and walked away. All they had now was the van but he was pretty sure it was cleaned out. Out of habit, which was driving Caleigh crazy, he hit play to listen to the tape all over again. He didn't know why he had to listen to it, but it was like the more he got mad, the harder he worked.

"Speed, you're going to drive yourself crazy," Calleigh said at the same moment Horatio walked in.

"What's going on here?" He got worried when he saw Calleigh and Valera walk pass him and Frank without a second glance or a hi. Then seeing their faces like someone died, he started getting worried.

"Rebecca's blood and the dog blood are missing," Valera said.

"And so are the pictures of the tire marks, and footprints Eric took. Also, the dust Alexx gave me to look at is also missing," Speed said, not looking up but staring at the tape, listening as Eric begged Ron to let him out of somewhere. He then heard something over the banging and once the banging stopped, it was a little clearer. He stopped the tape and ran out of the lab, leaving everyone to wonder what was going on. He walked into Tyler's lab and thrusted the tape into Tyler's hand. "Play it."

"Mind telling me what this is and am I allowed to play it?" He saw Horatio, Calleigh, and Valera run up to the door. "Do you guys mind telling me what's going on?"

"Just play the damn tape!" Speed half yelled half demanded. He sat down and turned the volume up a little louder when Tyler hit the play button.

_"I don't give a damn what they got, you need to make sure they don't find us...Yes, you can do that..."_

"Right there," Speed said, stopping the tape once more. "Tyler, is there anyway you can drown out Ron's voice and focuse on the voice on the other end of the phone?"

"I see where you're going," Tyler said, already getting to work.

"How about those who don't see where this is going," Valera said.

"Okay, follow me here," Speed said. "Say I'm talking on my cell phone and you are standing right where you are. If there's noise going on you can only hear me, not the person I'm talking too. Now, say it's dead quiet. You will be able to hear the person I'm talking too on the phone. Everyone talks louder on cell phones."

"And that is their downfall. Here we go," Tyler said, hitting play.

_"So I can go ahead and take all the evedince they have on you?...Okay, I will wait until they leave before grabbing everything...You will be the first know if anything else happens."_ It was faint but it was a lot better to hear without Ron's voice.

"Sadly, we can't make out who the person is but it sounds like a male," Tyler said, making a copy because he knew they would want one.

Horatio looked at his team and they all shared the same thought. At once, they all left the room, leaving Tyler behind dumbfounded. As they walked down the hall, Horatio grabbed Frank, who held a file, by the arm and dragged him with them, filling him in on everything.

"And you think a dead body is going to up and disappear?" he asked, not believeing what he was told.

"So far our evidence did. Why not a dead body," Speed said, a little more ahead of everyone. This was his boyfriends life after all. He opened the double doors to the morge and saw Alexx cover up her last victim. "Alexx, where did you put Rebecca's body?"

Alexx looked at him in confusion. "Rebecca Wing? Right over there." Pointing to a small door with Rebecca's name on it, she watched as Speed, Calleigh, and Valera walked over before looking at Horatio. "Okay Horatio, what's going on?"

"Well Alexx, it seems our evidence from Rebecca and Eric's case was taken," he explained. He looked up when heard a loud bang and saw Speed's fist against one of the doors, looking down at an empty tray. "And it seems our main body is missing as well."

Alexx couldn't believe it. Someone had gotten into the morge and had taken a dead body from under her nose. "Who?"

"We don't know," Horatio said. He looked down when his cell phone went off and saw the caller ID read Salas. He had asked Yelina if she would go to the Orlando Jail to see why Ron was let out early and she was to cal him when she got answers. He hit speaker phone and got everyone's attention. "Yelina."

_"Horatio. Are you okay? You sound upset?"_

"Well, all our evidence from Rebecca and Eric's case had been taken as well as Rebecca's body."

_"Oh my gawd. Do we know who did it?"_

"No, so some good news would be helpful."

_"Well, I do have news. I talked to the guards and they said Ron had spent most his time in solitary confinement and his cell. His second week he was there he killed his inmate and after that he's sent about thirty inmates to the ward for fighting. I got to look at his cell and there are marks all over the wall where he was keeping count of how long he was there and you won't believe this but there is exactly thirty years."_

"What did you do? Count them?" Frank asked, a small laugh escaping his mouth.

_"No, but the other inmates have. They said no one has ever kept count of how long they've been there but there was something different about some of the marks."_

"What do you mean?" Horatio asked.

_"Well, under each month and year some of the marks were different. Now, I'm not a CSI but I've hung around your team long enough to tell the difference between Ron's marks and someone elses."_

"So you're saying someone had set Ron up," Valera asked, hoping she was keeping up with them.

_"That's right. So far no one is speeking up. It also appears that during his sentence, Gorgia wanted Ron to serve some of his time there and Flordia had agreed, but never told Ron. When they were transporting Ron, he just walked out, saying his time was up."_

"And the guards believed that?" Speed asked, a little disbelife.

_"It was a new guard at the time and when he realized what he did, he quit on the spot."_

"Okay, so we know someone was playing with him, but who," Calleigh said. "Yelina, how did you know someone was making marks on the cell?"

_"Well, Ron's lines clearly go top to bottom. The other marks go from bottom to top."_

"Okay. Do you think that if you can, get all the inmates and have them make lines?"

_"Oh I'm sure I can. After I told the surperviser that Ron had murdered another woman and kidnapped a CSI, he's being very cooperative."_

"Thank you Yelina," Horatio said before hanging up. "Okay. Speed and Calleigh, I want you to go and procces the van please. Frank, get Mr. Freman's license plates out. We still have evidence to look at."

* * *

The sun had gone down by the time Speed and Calleigh walked out of the garage, smiles on their faces. Speed had found some dust on the ceiling of the van and a little in the corn of the van. He also found some grass and mud under the fot mat on the driver side. Calleigh had found some blood in two different places and wanted to get them to DNA as soon as possible. They called Horatio to tell them what they got before getting ready to head home. As they walked down the hallway, they heard someone talking in the far corner of the lab. Looking at each other, the both reconized the voice as Ryan's voice and went to see who he was talking too. They got to a corner where they could hear him clear as day and talking on his cell phone.

"I did what you wanted me to do...Yes, I did that too...I can't help it they got the van...They're CSI's dumb ass, they're going to find some new evidence no matter how hard you cleaned...I told you I would...Bye."

Speed and Calleigh looked at each other and jumped into the nearest lab before Ryan caught them. Watching as he walked passed the lab, Calleigh had to hold onto Speed's arm before he ran after the younger man and killed him. From what they heard, it sounded like that Ryan was the one responsible for everything that was happening. Racing down the hall, they found Horatio talking to Frank and pulled them into the Trace lab to explaine everything that they heard and their suspicion.


	8. Game over?

"We got him!" Speed said, running into the hallway, scaring almost everyone there. It was seven in the morning and Speed had been processing the evidence from the van all night, no matter how much Calleigh tried to get him to leave and work on it in the morning. He just didn't want this evidence to grow legs and walk away as well. He walked up to Horatio, Frank, Calleigh, Valera, and Ryan with a smile on his face. The first smile in three days.

"What do you mean?" Ryan asked, a little annoyed to be interrupted. He was in the middle of talking to Horatio about the promotion when Speed ran out of the lab like he won the lottery.

"I mean I know where Ron is," Speed said, face glowing. "The dust from the van is sawdust. There was mud, soil, and plants on Eric's shoes and from the tires of the van that I processed and found that there is some kind of chemical in the soil that can only be found at a chemical plant, and there is only one chemical plant near here that has an abandon sawmill next to it."

"Miami's Chemical Plant," Frank said. " Next door was that sawmill that closed when a fire started and the works refused to go back there so they moved the mill somewhere else."

"That's not all," Valera said, handing Horatio some papers. "I processed the blood samples Calleigh gave me and they belonged to Eric and Rebecca."

"Oh and one more thing," Speed said. "I also processed the money we got from Mr. Freeman and I found a nice print and it belonges to the one and only Ron McBee. Just this evidence aloone will send him to jail. We finally got him."

"Yes we do," Horatio said, giving his team a smile. "Guys, I believe there is someone waiting for us to get him."

* * *

The first thing he remembered was someone grabbing his shoulders and shoving him out of the closed in closet. He landed on the ground and looked up to a red face Ron. Looked like someone woke up on the wrong side of the couch. He felt his body being dragged to the middle of the room and turned over on his back, which was still sore from the brand.

"They're getting close," Ron said, walking around the room, rubbing his arms. "Those bastards are actually getting close and it's only been three days."

"What did you expect?" Eric asked. "They're CSI's." He rolled over on his side when Ron kicked him in the stomach. He looked up and saw him disappear into a room and wondered what was going on. Then his eyes got wide when he saw Ron walk back out, holding what looked like a whip in hand.

"Bad pet. No talking back to your master. Now you must be disciplined." He brought the whip over his head and brought it down on Eric's exposed chest with a loud crack and hearing a short cry. "Oh, and one more thing. No screaming or talking."

"What..." Eric couldn't finish when the whip lashed at his chest again. He couldn't hold back a cry and that only made the lashes come down harder. Over and over, the whip landed on his legs, chest, and face. He felt blood running from the slashes the whip made but he just couldn't hold in his cries as the lashes started over laying each other.

"I (CRACK) said (CRACK) no (CRACK) screaming! (CRACK, CRACK)" Ron stopped his assult and looked down at the bloody body before him. He never had to whip his pets before and it actually felt good. He knelt down and grabbed Eric by the chin and made him look him in the eye. "Now listen to me pet. I'm not in a good mood so if you want to survive, I would keep my mouth shut." He stood up and continued his assult again, this time with less screams. He felt his cell phone vibrate in his pocket and answered it. "What the hell do you want...Shit." He closed the phone and looked down but this with a smile. "It looks like your boyfriend has found our hiding place. Time to pick a new one. But first..." He kicked Eric in the head, knocking him out and started walking around the room to prepare for the visitors.

* * *

Horatio stood in front of the abandon building as cops and SWAT ran around the building, surrounding it from all sides. He could feel Speed walking behind him, gun in hand no doubt. "Speed, nice and easy." He started walking slowly towards the building, Speed behind him, and SWAT behind them. He got to the door and listened for a moment for movement before pushing it open a little. "Miami Dade Police!" No answer. He peeked his head in and then slowly made his way inside, looking to his left and right for any movement. He heard the SWAT move around once they got inside.

"It's to quiet," Speed whispered.

"Ron McBee! Give yourself up. We have the building surrounded!" Horatio yelled, hoping Ron was able to hear him. He noticed the trash can in the corner with fire inside, a TV, couch, table, you name it. He also noticed a large pool of blood in the middle of the room. He walked over to it and knelt down, dipping his fingers in it.

"Horatio?"

"It's blood. Fresh too." He suddenly stood up when Ron's voice filled the entire room.

_"Welcome Lieutenant Caine and Officer Speedle. Once again, I am two steps ahead of you. I was hoping for a little more time with my pet and wasn't expecting you to find me so soon. It's to bad that this is where the game ends. If you direct your attention to the ceiling, you will noticed a large amount of home made explosives I created myself. By the time this recording is over, you will have exactly thirty seconds left to get out of the building. I always loved ending a game with a bang. Oh, and don't worry Officer Speedle, I'll make sure to tell Eric you said hi."_

Horatio looked up and saw that Ron had been right. There, right above them, was about five explosives with the time counting down. Reaching into his pocket, he called Frank. "Frank. Get everyone out of here and away from the building. There's a bomb that's going to explode in twenty seconds." He closed his phone and ordered everyone out of the building. Outside was chaos. People running around in all different directions, trying to get away from the build as fast as they could, when suddenly a loud explosion was heard and the building was suddenly engulfed in flames. Alexx, Calleigh, and Ryan watched from afar and looking for Horatio and Speed.

"Where are they?" Alexx asked, trying to keep her tears from falling from her eyes. She searched all around but couldn't find them and thought the worst when she heard someone yell something and that's when she saw him. Horatio walking out of the dust, bleeding from a cut on his arm and his suit covered in dust. Otherwise, unharmed. She ran towards him, Calleigh right behind her, and threw her arms around his neck. "Horatio. You're okay."

"Yeah. Just made it out in time and ducked for cover," he said, a little out of breath. When Alexx relesed him, Calleigh was suddenly in his arms. Once she let him go, he looked around at the mess. Officers were running around, making sure everyone was okay while firetrucks started to appear at the scene. This was not how this was suppose to happen. They were suppose to go in, get Eric, and leave. Then his face went white as a ghost at the sudden thought. Eric. Speed. Where was Speed?

"Horatio, you okay?" Ryan asked, noticing his boss a little pale.

"No. Where's Speed?"

Alexx and Calleigh looked at one another and then at Horatio. "We haven't seen him," Calleigh said. She looked back at the fire and then at Horatio. "You don't think..."

"I'm not sure." He started walking towards the building, Alexx, Calleigh, and Ryan behind him, when he was stopped by one of the firefighters.

"I'm sorry sir but we can't let anyone pass."

"You don't understand, there is a CSI missing and I need to make sure he's okay," Horatio said, staring the firefighter in the eyes.

"I'll radio my guys and have them look for him but I cannot let you pass."

"Okay. I understand. His name is Officer Timmy Speedle."


	9. Solitary Confinement

Eric laid as still as he possibly could as Ron walked back and fourth in front of the small black and white TV. They had arrived at this small hut made of rotten wood yesterday after Ron had driven them from there last location. He didn't remember much. Only the whip and then the kick to his head and when he woke up, his body was bouncing and it was pitch black. When the bouncing stopped, bright light shined through and Ron had dragged him out of the trunk of the car and he got a good look around. Water, grass, and trees all around them and in front of them was the small hut that looked big enough for only one person. The familiar smell of the water and air told him they were in the Everglades, seeing an alligator swim by comformed it as well. So here they were. The next morning and Ron seemed to be in an very happy mood, which was scaring him just a little. He was about to ask what got him so happy when Ron gave a yell and turned the TV up before stepping away.

"I have a surprise for you pet," Ron said with a laugh.

_"Good morning Miami, this is Kim Howard live from the abandon sawmill where a bomb had exploded yesterday. Police say evidence was traced to this abandon sawmill where they believed Officer Eric Delko was being held by this man, Ron McBee. (picture shown) When police and SWAT arrived on the scene all looked well, when what was suppose to be a rescue mission ended up to be a recovery mission. At first, Officer Timmy Speedle was missing after the explostion but unfortunately rescue workers had uncovered his body amoung the debris. Officer Speedle was one of the officers that entered the building before it exploded and he did not make it out in time. Standing next to me is Lieutenant Horatio Caine of the Miami Dade Crime Lab. Lieutenant, I want you to know how sorry I am about your lose."_

_"Thank you Mrs. Howard. Not only did we lose a good officer and friend but our other officer is still missing."_

_"Do you have anything you would like to say?"_

_"As a matter of fact, I do. Ron McBee, not only do you have one of my CSI's held hostage but you are now being responsible for the death of another of my CSI. We found you once and we will find you again. Thank you."_

_"Thank you Lieutenant. More on this story later. Back to you Anne."_

_"Thank you Kim. Miami is now under a Heat Advisory for the next two days with highs of..."_

Eric stared at the TV in disbelief, tears running down his face. This had to be some kind of joke. Speed couldn't be dead. Sure there were times when he thought his boyfriend was dead, but Speed always came back to him to reassure him, but the look on Horatio's face told him everything he needed to know. He bowed his head when he realized that he will no longer have those stronge arms wrap around him, holding him close when he was sad. No longer will he feel the light kissing on his neck and face. No longer will he wake up with a hangover and listen as Speed laughed about how he never gets hangovers. No longer will he have someone by his side. He was now alone and would forever be alone since Speed was the only man he ever wanted. He lifted his head when he heard Ron still laughing. All because of this bastard.

"I can't believe it," Ron said, taking deep breaths. "I actually killed Timmy Speedle. I actually killed a cop. This calls for a celebration."

Eric watched him run out of the hut, feeling the humid air from outside. He looked down and realized Ron hadn't tied him up nor did he have that electric collor on. As slowly as he could, he pushed himself to sitting position, and got a better look at his front. He was still covered in blood and the whip marks were all over his body. He knew his back wasn't any better with that brand. He looked around the room and spotted a pocket knife on the table and then slowly got to his feet. While listening for Ron, he made his way to the table, grabbing it just in time before pain shot from his ankle and his leg bucked from under him. He remembered his ankle from two days ago and he forgot all about it until now, but he pushed that back and stood back up and picked the knife up. Since Speed was dead, it didn't matter if he lost or won the game, just as long as he kills Ron before he kills another innocent person for his pleasure. He heard Ron's laughter getting closer so he hid behind the door, waitting.

Ron walked back to the hut, two bottles of beer in his hand. He was so happy that nothing could ruin his day. He actually killed a cop and still had Eric in his hands. This was getting better and better. Sure, Eric will be pissed at him, but after he breaks the man in, Speedle will be nothing but the past. "Time to celebrate Eric." He opened the door with a smile, but the smile faded when he didn't see Eric where he last left him. He closed the door and looked around the small hut. There were only two rooms, the room he was standing in and the small bed room to the left. He walked over to the bed room, peeking his head in the room. "Eric? You in here?" Nothing. He went to turn around when he heard something behind him. He turned around in time to see Eric bring the pocket knife down towards his heart. He moved just in time but he got stabbed in the shoulder instead.

"You bastard!" Eric said, pulling the knife out and brought it back down again. He didn't care if survived and sent to jail for killing Ron. He decerved this. He decerved death.

"Bad pet," Ron said, grabbing Eric's wrist before the knife would stab him again. He brought his foot up and kicked Eric in the stomach, making him double over and drop the knife. He tackeled Eric to the ground and pinned him there. "Didn't I tell you not to fight back?"

"That was until you killed Speed!" Eric spit in Ron's faced and took advantage of that and brought his knee up to his groin. Once he was free, he got to his feet and picked up the knife, but was knocked down from behind hind.

They ended up rolling all over the hut, knocking things over and throwing punches at each other. It seemed Ron had Eric cornered. He had Eric on the ground with his hands around his throat, but he didn't know was Eric had access to a cord, that when followed, ended at the TV sitting on the table. Eric had seen this and started pulling the cord with all his might. He kept his eyes on the TV as it was inching to the edge of the table, right above Ron's head. With one last pull, the TV fell and landed on the side of Ron's head, knocking him out. Eric laied still for a few minutes, getting air back into his lungs and also to make sure Ron really was knocked out. After a few minutes, Eric pushed Ron off him and sat up to get a look around the room. Chairs and a small table had been knocked over but that's not what caught his attention. What caught his attention was a cell phone laying on the ground. With no energy to stand, nor support on his left leg, he started crawing towards the cell phone. By the time he reached the cell phone, sweat was dripping from his face, but he ignored that and the sudden rise in heat in the room as he grabbed the phone.

"Got to call Horatio," he mumbled. He fliped the phone open but instead of dialing Horatio's number, he ended up just hitting one on speed dial and just waited for someone to pick up. After two rings, a familiar voice came on the other end.

_"Ron? You okay?"_

Ryan? Why would Ron have Ryan on speed dial? Eric was confused, but he wasn't sure if it was because of hearing Ryan's voice or the blow to the head from yesterday.

_"Answer me Ron. Have you killed Eric yet?"_

Killed Eric yet? Was Ryan the reason he was here? Eric was trying to listen to what Ryan was saying he didn't hear Ron sneeking up behind him until he felt something hit him in the head, sending him back into darkness.

"You little shit," Ron said, kneeling down and picking up the phone. He held it to his ear but he couldn't hear anyone on the other end. Setting the phone aside, he looked down at his pet and had finally had enough. He left the room and returned with some rope and started tying Eric's wrist above his head and once he was done, he stood up and looked out the small window at his version of solitary confinement. Reaching down, he grabbed the rope and started dragging Eric's body out the back door and into the humid air. Being very careful, he walked along the narrow plank he had built, laughing as he thought of the hours he put into making the solitary confinement. All it was a very small, narrow closet, only outside. It had only one small window with bars, not even enough to send light into the dark room, and the best part of the whole thing, it was built on a very small amount of land in the middle of the water. He watched as alligator's swam past him, eyes open and watching his every move. By the time he reached the solitary confinement, Eric was starting to come too.

"What the hell?" Eric mumbled, not understanding why his body was moving. What was worst, his back was scraping against what felt like wood, and it was killing his back. He tilted his head back and saw Ron unlock a door and then look down at him with an evil smile.

"I think I've had enough of you being a bad pet so it's time to take drastic measures."

"What do you mean? Where are we?"

"The Everglades of course. What we have here is solitary confinement that I built and this is where you're going to be staying for the next two days." He opened the door so Eric could see that it was very small, closed in, and no room to move. He dragged Eric inside, sitting him down, and reached up to grab a hook he installed and placed Eric's bond wrist on it. "Now, be a good pet and think about what you've done and maybe, just maybe, I might let you out tomorrow." With that, Ron closed the door and locked it before turning to leave Eric alone in the hot sun.


	10. Confessions

Ryan walked down the hall of the lab, trying not smile as he passed Calleigh and Alexx, who looked as if they were crying for hours. He knew Ron would know what to do when the time came but this was genius, but now he was wondering if Ron was doing okay. He didn't know if he made it out or not but he knew Ron had everything under control. Or so he hoped. He walked into the break room and turned on the TV just in time for the breaking news, and sat down to listen to what he already knew. Speed died in the line of duty trying to save his boyfriend, blah blah blah. He's been dealing with everyone's sad faces this morning that he just wanted to hide in his lab and let everyone have a cry fest without him. He heard the door to the break room open and turned around to see who came in but he saw no one. Thinking it was just someone seeing if anyone was in the break room, he started flipping through channels when he felt his phone vibrate. He reached into his pocket and read Ron's number on his Caller ID.

"Ron, you okay?" Nothing. All he could hear was heavy breathing and that was it. "Answer me Ron. Have you killed Eric yet? Blowing up the building was great and you even killed Speed but you do remember the deal right?" When he got no answer, he just hung up. If Ron wanted to talk to him then he can call back again. He turned his attention to the TV when he heard the door once again open and close. He stood up this time and walked over to the door to see if he could catch the person but when he opened the door, he only saw two lab ladies walking pass with tissues on the other side of the hall. He shook his head and closed the door once more and headed to the counter for a pot of coffee, thinking about tomorrow. After tomorrow, he will get the promotion for sure. Nothing could go wrong.

"Mr. Wolfe," a voice said from behind him. He jumped, almost spilling his coffee, and turned around to face Horatio. What was it with people trying to scare him today?

"Horatio. I didn't hear you come in."

"Mr. Wolfe, if you're not busy right now, would you accompany me to the interrogation room for a few minutes. There's something we need to talk about."

"Sure thing." Ryan gave his best smile and fixed his suit and followed Horatio down the hall and into the elevator. "What is it that we need to talk about?"

"We just need a few more questions answered so we can hand them into the department." Horatio was being short and to the point, all awhile smiling. He stepped out of the elevator and waved Frank and Yelina over as he walked Ryan into one of the interrogation rooms. Once the door was closed, he had Ryan sit down as he sat himself. "Mr. Wolfe, I would like to ask you a few questions."

"Go right ahead Lieutenant."

"Four days ago Eric Delko was taken hostage by Ron McBee, who was suppose to be in jail for thirty years. I had Yelina go out to the jail to find out why Ron had escaped and it turns out, he didn't escape but was tricked into thinking his thirty years were up."

"Really?"

"Yes. You see, while in jail, Ron was keeping track of the years he's been in jail along with days and months. Half way through, he just started keeping track of the years and sometimes month if he knew what month they were on. On his eighteenth year, Ron had gotten a new cellmate by the name of Benny Johnmill. Benny was in jail for killing his ex-girlfriend's boyfriend and beat her up."

"Okay. Why are you telling me this?"

"Just listen. Well, Benny wanted revenge on his ex so when he heard what Ron was in for, he had told Ron that when he got out of jail he knew someone that would like to join his game. Ron agreed and then Benny started messing with Ron's head by adding in extra marks on the wall. Four years of doing this and Ron had counted thirty years and then just walked out when he was suppose to be transported to Gorgia to finish his sentence, but not before assuring Benny that his ex would be taken care of. Do you know the ex girlfriend's name?"

"No."

"Rebecca Wing."

"Okay, you know why she died. What does this have to do with me? I thought these questions where about the promotion?"

"They are," Frank said. "Two weeks ago you and Eric Delko were notified about the promotion in your department. Higher pay and more benifits."

"Correct."

"It's funny how this is the last week you both are being watched and Eric suddenly goes missing."

"Where are you going with this?"

"Are you responsible for Eric's kidnapping?" Frank was trying to keep his anger in check but he was really close with the Cuban, other than he was the only that could dive for evidence like a pro. He was watching Ryan's reaction and was getting exactly what he expected.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"You can play dumb all you want but we know for a fact that you had set this all up."

"Prove it."

Frank smiled like he won the lottery and threw a file on the table in front of Ryan. "My pleasure. If you take a look at those pictures I just gave you, you will notice those are pictures of the missing evidence. The blood samples, DNA report, viles of sawdust, shirt, and pictures of the tire marks and footprints found at crime scene in the woods."

"So."

"These were found in your locker. We did a locker check on everyone's locker and yours was the lucky winner. Mind tell us how all this ended up in your locker and where you put Rebecca's body?"

Ryan just stared at the pictures and then without warning, he bolted out of the chair and headed for the door before anyone had a chance to move. He flew the door open and ran passed the cubes as officers stood up in confusion, but then realized what was happening and took off after him. He saw the elevator and knew he was home free but before he could get an inch from the door, he tripped over something and landed on the ground. He looked up and saw Calleigh with her gun drawn and aimed at him.

"You might be a CSI but you have all the moves of a criminal." She knelt down and cuffed him, being extra hard, and pulled him up with the help of some of the officers. "I believe the interrogation room is this way." She walked in front of Ryan as two officer walked him back to the room where Horatio was just sitting with a smile on his face. Calleigh stood in front of the door once the officers sat Ryan down and left. She wasn't going to let him get away again.

"It seems, Mr. Wolfe, that your actions just now confirmed our suspicion. Why don't you tell us the truth. How do you know Ron McBee and where is Eric right now."

"Okay. First of, Rebecc'a body is buried on the side of this building with three rocks as the headstone. As for Ron, when I heard about the promotion I was excited, but then a week ago I over heard some tech guys talking, saying something how they think Eric deserved the promotion. He was nice, a hard worker, and everyone loved him. Girls would fall over heels for him but he was already taken. By a guy no less. Guys wanted to get to know him and go out for drinks. I just couldn't believe that everyone wanted a fag to get the promotion. I guess I flipped. I worked my ass off harder than Eric. I get all my work done on time where Eric is usually a day or two late. I've always shown up on time and ready for a scene. I've tried not to let talk get to me but then I heard it from one of the board members that they were considering Eric, that is, if he showed up this whole week."

"So how do you know Ron?"

"When I arrived for work the night Eric disappeared, I saw this guy walking around the parking lot, standing by Calleigh's car. I walked up to him and asked who he was and what he wanted. He didn't want to tell me his name but he asked me what was wrong with me, since I was pissed when I saw Eric's car still in the lot. So I told him what was going on and how I deserved the promotion over a fag and it seemed I wasn't going to get it when he smiled. He told me his name was Ron McBee and he had a way to help me. He was already going to take Calleigh as a hostage, to get revenge on Horatio, so he could take Eric as well but I convinced him that if he could just have Eric disappear and leave Calleigh, that I would be able to get the promotion. I didn't mean for this to go this far. I just wanted him gone for a week and then he was going to let him go. When you guys were getting closer I took the evidence so I could have a few more days to prove I was worthy."

"Then why did you ask him if he killed Eric yet?" Horatio asked, not keeping anger out of his voice.

"What? I never said anything about killing Eric. I told you after this week Eric was going to be set free but Ron has gone crazy."

"Cut the bullshit," Calleigh said. She stormed over to the table and pulled out a tape recorder. "I guess recording is becoming an addiction around here these days." She hit play and walked back to the door, listening as Ryan's conversation from the break room played for all to hear. "You never wanted Eric back. You wanted him dead. You nothing but a homophobic bastard."

"Who taped this?"

"That's not important right now. Where is Eric?" Horatio asked, knowing they might not have much time to save him.

"I don't know."

"Bullshit." This time, it was Frank. He walked over to Ryan and pulled out his cell phone and scrolled down his contacts.

"You can't do that!"

"Yes he can," Yelina said, speeking up for the first time since they've been in there. "You ran out during an interrogation while being questioned and you just confessed to being responsible for the disappearence of Eric Delko. We have all the right from here on out."

Frank nodded and found the number he needed. Putting it on speaker phone and before he hit play, he laid the phone on the table and glared at Ryan. "You are going to find out where Ron is and you are not going to tell him anything about this. You understand me?"

Usually, Ryan would agree but then change his mind, but the look on Franks face, told him not to push him. He saw Frank hit call and after three rings, Ron picked up.

_"Ryan, buddy. How are ya?"_

"I'm good. I wanted to make sure you got out of the building okay."

_"Oh yeah. I'm better than okay. Officer Speedle is dead and pretty soon you won't have to worry about Eric anymore."_

"Good. Listen, before you keep your part of the deal, I was wondering if I could visit Eric one last time. You know, to rub it in his face?"

_"I think we can arrange something. He's in solitary confinement right now but I think you can see him."_

"Great. Where are you and I'll be right over while I still have free time." Ryan never felt like a rat until now.

_"The Everglades off of rout 64. I would hurry though. It's a scorcher and I don't know how long Eric has."_

"Okay. I'll be right over. Thanks."

Frank ended the call, but never looked at Ryan. He took Ryan's phone and walked out of the room, calling officers to follow him to the cars and to get ready for a second time rescue mission. Ryan followed Franks form and was about to look at Horatio when someone walking pass the room and stopped caught his eye. He blinked and then looked again, still the person stood there.

"It can't be. You're dead."

"Well, it's clear to say your not the best CSI now are you," Speed growled, walking into the room.

"But how?"

"Me and Speed over heard you talking on the phone the day before we went to the sawmill," Calleigh said with a smile. "Of course we didn't plan on the building to blow up but Speed was way clear of the building."

"A few cuts here and there but other than that I'm still alive," Speed said. "When the firefighters found me off to the side, I told them to get Horatio and then we came up with this wonderful idea that I was killed in the blast. Of course those around who knew I was alive promised not to tell anyone."

"So we told reporters that Speed was killed," Horatio finished. "I knew Ron would be watching the news and I wanted him to feel good about himself before we ruined his day." He stood up and was about to walk out of the room before he turned around. "Oh yeah, Speed was the one who taped you talking to Ron on the phone."

"Yeah. I guess I play the part of a ghost very good." Speed gave one last smile before following Calleigh and Horatio out of the room and headed for the double doors to go save his boyfriend.


	11. Game over for real

**A/N:** Well, my last chappy to my very first CSI Miami fic. I want to thank everyone for reading and reviewing. I hope to have another story going soon, so keep an eye out.

* * *

It was late in the afternoon when the sun was shining it's brightest and bring with it, heat and lots of it. The weather report had basically told everyone not even go outside unless they needed too and to stay in A/C houses. Ron was sitting in one of the chairs, about four fans all around him while he sat at the table, cleaning his gun and putting in new bullets while keeping an eye out for Ryan to show up and wiping sweat from his brow. He couldn't believe how hot it got in just a matter of hours and was lucky to be surrounded by fans instead of being Eric, out in the heat with only one window but even with one window, he was in the middle of sunlight and heat. Oh well, maybe the heat would kill him and no one will know. He lifted his head when he heard the sound of car door slamming and stood up to see if it was Ryan, but when he walked to the window he was greeted with ten cop cars, paramedics, two Hummers, and one pissed off Horatio Caine. This wasn't good. He picked up his gun and walked back to the window to see the police and SWAT surround the front.

"Ron McBee," Frank yelled, "we have the house surrounded. Come out with your hands up."

"How about this. You leave and I won't have to shoot you." To make sure they knew he was telling the truth, he fired two shots off, missing two officers by centimeters.

"He's got a gun," one officer said, ducking behind a car. "Get the tear gas."

Ron watched with wide eyes as one officer shot a can of tear gas right through the window he was at, landing next to his feet. Smoke started filling the room and he knew they were waiting for him to go out the front but he still had the backdoor. Gun in hand, he ran towards the backdoor and threw it open, breathing in fresh air, but his freedom didn't last long. The moment the door closed, five cops were surrounding him with their guns drawn and aimed. He just smiled and dropped the gun and put his hands in the air as one of the officers cuffed him. Once he was secured, they walked him to the front of the house where Horatio, Alexx, and Calleigh were waitting for him.

"I finally got you," Horatio said with a smile. He looked up when some officers walked out of the house, sweating and empty handed. "Well?"

"No sign of him. There's only one other room and he's not there."

"Where is Eric, Ron?" Horatio asked, staring the man down, but all he got was a laugh.

"You might have gotten me but you lost one CSI and pretty soon another. Tell me, was it all worth it?"

"You know you're going away for a long time, right?"

"What are you talking about? I still have three extra men to play. I'll get right back out and the game will continue where I left off."

"I hate to burst your bubble, but you're going to jail for a longer time than you think," Calleigh said. She smiled when she saw the confused look on Ron's face and decided to tell him the bad news. "You still have nine more years left of your sentence."

"What the hell are talking about? I kept count. I spent my thirty years in that hell hole. I did my time. You're just trying to scare me into tell you where Eric is."

"She's telling the truth," Horatio said. "You're cellmate, Benny Johnmill had tricked you into thinking your time was done. He added more marks to your count because he wanted you to kill his ex right away."

"You're lying. They walked me out of the jail themselves."

"I'm afraid he's not lying," Yelina said. "The reason why they were taking you out was to transport you to Gorgia to finish your sentence. You still have nine more years left Mr. McBee."

Ron just stared at them in disbelif. Nine more years left? He wasn't a free man after all? To top it off, they'll make him finish the nine years and then add on more for killing Rebecca, Officer Speedle, and now Eric Delko. All because some dumb ass wanted the promotion and he agreed to help him, but he knew how these guys work. He can make a deal and get his sentence shortened. "Okay. Can I make a deal with you?"

"I'm listening," Horatio said.

"How about I tell you where Eric is and you throw out one of my charges. Deal?"

"I think we can work with that. Now, where's Eric?"

"He's in the back."

"Back? There's nothing back there but a port-a-potty in the middle of the water," Frank said in disgust.

"It's not a port-a-potty. It's solitary confinement. Eric was being a bad pet and I had to teach him a lesson, courtesy of the jail."

Horatio nodded and opened his phone, hitting one button and waiting. "Back of the house in the smaller hut...Yeah, the one sitting on the small part of land...We will." He hung up and then smiled at Ron. This was going to be good.

Back of the house

Eric's arms felt numb as he tried to get them free from the stupid hook but he had no energy to do so. He was thinking that going maybe two days without eating and drinking, days of abuse, the whipping he got the other day, and the heat was weighing him down. He didn't even have any energy to yell. His mouth was dry, he knew he lost about ten pounds, maybe more, from sweating this much. To top it off, the air in the small closed in area was getting heaver with the heat he couldn't breath and passing out was getting closer and closer. He decided that fighting was only going to make it harder on him and he just closed his eyes, waiting for darkness to take over, but before he could, he heard a voice he thought he would never hear.

"Eric!"

That voice. The voice of an angel.

"Eric!"

Yes. He knew that voice anywhere. Maybe he really was dead but his spirit didn't know where to go, so his angel was coming to get him and take him home. Usually, people will fight death, but if his angel was the one getting him, why would he fight? He suddenly felt a small breeze of air and cracked his eyes open to see two dark figures looking over him. They weren't his angel.

"We got him!"

What did they mean they got him? He didn't want to go with them. He wanted his angel. He wanted his Speed. He felt hands lift his wrist's off the hook and his body being dragged into the sun. Then he realized he wasn't dead but alive and Ron was going to kill him. Maybe throw him into the water for the alligators to eat him, so this meant he was going to fight. He did his best to struggle to get free of the hands that dragged him by his wrist but they held tight and then he felt hands pick his legs up so he was being dragged anymore but carried. Pain shot up his left leg when the hands gripped his ankle but his mouth was so dried up he couldn't even let out a groun until his body was set on something soft and that's when he tried getting away. Until he heard that voice again.

"Eric, stop."

Well, he stopped like the voice said and opened his eyes once more, this time wider to see the one person he's been wanting to see since this whole mess started. He opened his mouth and to his surprise, he was able to get one word out. "Speed?" He saw the man nod and smile before he finally let darkness take over.

* * *

Ron was wondering why they havn't put him in the car and taken to the jail but Horatio said he had a surprise for him. He looked around him and saw Alexx walking back and fourth while Calleigh leaned against the Hummer. Horatio was keeping an eye on the side of the house then he heard cheering. He lifted his head and saw two paramedics pushing a stretcher, which Eric lay, and walking on the side of that stretcher, holding Eric's limp hand, was none other than Timmy Speedle. He watched as Alexx ran over and took Speeds place.

"What the...How did you...You're dead."

Speed just glared at the man but then smiled. "You know, Ryan said something almost like that when he saw me."

"Speed was never dead. We just played it like he was," Horatio said. He put Ron in the car but before he closed the door, he looked down at him. "I am sticking to the deal. We're dropping the murder charges of Speed but you are being charged with attempt murder." He gave Ron one last smile before shutting the door. "Game over."

One week later

Speed looked down at his lover that lay next to him in bed and just smiled. He was finally released froim the hospital, on orders that he stay in bed, no work for another week, and to take it easy until his wounds healed. His ankle was in a cast since it was broken when he fell but the bones healed in the wrong position so the doctors had to go back in and re-break the bone to set it right. The whip marks would leave scars but the doctors were able to get the infections out but what worried him more was Eric's back and his state of mind. The doctors tried but they were not able to get rid of the brand on his back, in which Eric didn't seem to care, but that could have been the pain killers they had him on. One of the doctors told him Eric might have to go see a theropist but Eric had told them no and Speed told them it was Eric's decition, not his.

"If you keep thinking that hard, you're brain will fry," a tired voice said. Speed looked down to see Eric looking up at him with a smile.

"You feeling okay?"

"Yeah. Just glad to be out of the hospital. What are you doing home?"

"Horatio gave me the week off to make sure you followed doctors orders and take it easy."

"Horatio or Alexx?" Eric laughed, remembering his third day in the hospital when Alexx told Speed he was to make sure Eric listened to doctors orders. If not, he was suppose to call her and she would come over and personally make sure he did what was told to do.

"Both. Now it's time to check your back, so turn over." Speed got out of bed so Eric could roll over and he removed the white bandage that covered his entire back. The brand looked much better than what it was when they saved him. The doctors cleaned it out, got the puss out, and told Speed to keep it bandaged for awhile so it doesn't get infected again. "It's healing good." He covered it back up and got back into bed, pulling Eric up to his chest. "Does it hurt?"

"No. I hate it though." Eric never really talked about the brand to anyone but Speed. Only Speed was aloud to see it and only Speed was aloud to see him cry. "You never told me what happened to them."

"You've been through enough. I didn't want to even mention their names," Speed said. "But, I guess you deserve to know. They fired Ryan and he's only being charged with attempt murder. Ron, well, let's say he won't be getting out anytime soon. They're making him finish his nine years and he's charged with escaping from jail, murder, kidnapping, and attempt murder. We won't see them for a long time and if I do..."

"You won't do anything," Eric finished. He saw Speeds face and laughed. "Alexx will beat you to them."

Speed just laughed and hugged Eric closer. Yes, he was worried that Eric was never going to be the same, but just now, he knew everything was going to be okay. The team is helping them when help is needed and the really important part is that they are together once more and now everyone will know that someone did survive Ron McBee's Game Of Survival.


End file.
